One of the things that worries me nowadays is the fear I hear among us, fear that we will be accused of something terrible if someone thinks we have taken inspiration from somewhere and, especially, if we want to sell the work of our hands.
I am a pattern designer in another domain of folk art - because patchwork and quilting ARE centuries-old forms of folk art - and if you buy one of my patterns, what is it that you are buying? A set of instructions for a combination of folk elements that I have put together. I didn't say 'that I invented' because I didn't invent the elements. I only put them together in what I hope is a pleasing combination and wrote instructions so that other people could do it too. If someone wants to re-create my combination without using my instructions, they obviously can do it. If someone decides to make one of my 'designs' (combinations) and does, and then uses it as the panel of an object that they sell, I think that is wonderful. Why? because I know how many hours and how much care they will have taken to do it, and if they can get a decent price for their work, good for them. I honestly hope they do. Plus, what RIGHT would I have to try to stop them or even to hint that they couldn't/shouldn't/oughtn't ? None whatsoever. Period. The only thing I can ask them to do is not copy my instructions and sell them.
I know for certain that the women who use these folk elements in their daily lives learned how to do it by copying the elements from their mothers, grandmothers, neighbours, etc.
When new elements arrive, it is always surprising for historians (which is what I actually am) to follow the trail to where the new elements came from. A cool example: around 1870, embroiderers in the Jerusalem area started to introduce what have now become named as 'flower pots' into their work. Now, none of the Bedouins around Jerusalem used flower pots around their tents. So where did the flower pots come from? We discovered that around that time a group of Quakers arrived and set up a school for women in Ramallah, which is a few miles from Jerusalem. These missionaries must have brought chintz fabric with them on their furniture or... Flower pots on chintz are typical of the European style of fabric design around that time and these designs originated in fact in the formal English and French topiary gardens inspired by Indian rajahs' palace gardens... So by sight and copying, a garden in India turned into a 'flower pot' cross stitch design on a Bedouin woman's dress. Thank goodness no one at that time would have even thought of claiming originality, invention or the dreaded 'copyright' word!
A quilt 'pattern' is a set of written instructions enabling someone to re-create a given combination of traditional elements. If you see a picture of a quilt, or a quilt at somebody's house or in a museum or where ever, and you say to yourself "Oh, that's cool. It looks like 6 rows of square-in-squares, set on point, separated by narrow sashing" and you can then draft your understanding, and make a similar combination, it means you didn't need a pattern. You had the willpower, the technique and the time to do something similar. You are doing exactly the same thing as people have been doing over the centuries. And if this helps to support your family, all power to you.
You are following Proverbs 31: 10-31.
I believe that we 'designers' can be proud of our combinations, and of our role in preserving tradition while keeping our craft relevant, attractive and alive. But we need to realize that we have not 'invented' anything, probably. I have seen what the Western world calls 'log cabins' on saddle bags made by nomads 150 years ago in far eastern Siberia. Go to Xian or Chengdu for the most incredible baby quilts, made of what we call "squares-in-squares'. The hill people of northern Thailand have developed amazingly tiny rows of 'prairie points' in their strip-pieced work.
Yes, by all means buy patterns, if you want. Draft your own, if you want. Sell your work, or keep it, or give it away, why not?
Inspiration can come from all over, from everywhere. Enjoy it!